‘Either You Send People There With Security or You Don’t Send Them’: GOP Sen. Grills State Dept. Officials in Benghazi Hearing

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Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) AP

Sen. Bob Corker on Thursday demanded to know why the State Department staffed its diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya without enough security to respond to the deadly attacks that killed four Americans in September.

“I cannot imagine sending folks out to Benghazi after we what we saw from the security cameras and the drones, I cannot imagine that we had people out there with the lack of security existent,” Corker (R-Tenn.) told department officials during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the attacks. “It seems to me that what the State Department would have done was to prioritize and in fact if we cannot have people there, not send them.”

Noting that Clinton just requested $1.3 billion from Congress, Corker asked why there were never any requests to make sure Benghazi was secure.

“I want to talk about why you did not ask about the resources for Benghazi,” Corker said.

Deputy Secretary of State Thomas Nides answered that the U.S. government must reexamine all of its high-risk posts overseas.

“We are in a situation where the Middle East is evolving, democracies are growing, militaries are forming and we must look at each and every one of those sites and every one of our posts and reexamine under a new normal — ” Nides said.

“You were aware of the security risks there, we’ve read the cables” Corker said. “You were fully aware and either you send people there with security or you don’t send them there.”